Sunday, March 06, 2005

Alade Aminu

Aminu's Stephenson team lost the other night, and evidently Aminu had one of his worst outings of the season. Here's a thread at the Hive discussing his performance. They are a bit hard on him, considering it was only one game. Basically, he was timid on offense and was described as very thin. Here's a kid who has been playing organazed ball only 3 years and is still very young. Let's also not assume he's going to step in dominate. I think he will fit perfectly into the aggressive defense scheme Coach wants to run. So you have Dickey strong on the offensive side, and Aminu strong on the defensive side. You throw in J-Smith and our front-court is shaping up nicely. But give it time.


Details about his team's playoff loss.

Teammate Jodie Meeks, a dynamic 6-foot-3 combination guard, finished with a game-high 22 points, including an emphatic slam on 6-9 Georgia Tech signee Alade Aminu in the game's waning minutes, to pace the winners.


Found some other interesting recruiting articles on Community Christian School, and walking the line between a minor-league college hoops prep school and an academic institute. Note that Coach Hewitt is quoted in these stories:


SCHOOLS DRIVE MISSION, TREND

To answer concerns about exploitation, Community Christian officials point to one of their players, Solomon Tat, who went from earning $2 a day in a brick factory in his native Nigeria to being recruited by Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Connecticut.


Tat's tuition is paid for through school fund-raising with private and corporate donations. The American players on the team do not receive the same financial aid, partly because Community Christian doesn't want to ruffle local high school coaches who would accuse them of recruiting.


COLLEGES PURSUE, NCAA WATCHES

Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt was pretty clear when asked if he'd recruit an athlete from Community Christian.


"I wouldn't hesitate," he said.


COMMUNITY WANTS TO HELP


BASKETBALL PREP


On another recruiting note, I found this on a potential recruit Rousean Cromwell of Memphis TN.


Floyd era begins: New USC coach Tim Floyd brought his first recruit to campus Friday, when 6-foot-8 forward Rousean Cromwell of Memphis, Tenn., made his official visit.


Cromwell is listed as the 115th-best player in the nation, according to Rivals.com, and is considering mostly Southern schools, including Georgia Tech, Clemson, Florida State and Alabama-Birmingham.